Dewey Branstetter leaving for Sherrard & Roe

Panelists Dewey Branstetter, state Sen. Thelma Harper and Harold Love Jr. discuss the issue of race during the consolidation of city and county governments in Nashville. Branstetter announced Thursday that he is leaving law firm Branstetter Stranch & Jennings PLLC, which his late father Cecil D. Branstetter founded.
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Prominent Nashville attorney Dewey Branstetter announced Thursday that he is leaving law firm Branstetter Stranch & Jennings PLLC, which his late father Cecil D. Branstetter founded, for Sherrard & Roe.

Branstetter, who will turn 58 in 16 days, told his partners Wednesday that he will join firm Sherrard & Roe as a partner, effective July 1. He says he's waiting until July to give both him and his current firm enough time to orchestrate a smooth transition.

Branstetter says there are no hard feelings between him and the firm that bears his last name. "People evolve and I evolved and they're going to be fine and I'm going to be fine," he said.

He added that Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings "really hasn't been a family firm for some time because there's so many other people there now. Two of them, my brother-in-law and my nephew, are the only family members left since my father passed away, and my sister left four years ago."

Branstetter's sister, Jane Stranch, is a federal judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

"I just can't tell you how excited I am to be going to Sherrard & Roe, where I have the utmost respect for their lawyers and I have many friends there," Branstetter said. "In fact, one of the things I so admire about it is the impetus and importance that they put on community service."

He said he plans to continue the same work he's done for the past 33 years, and that his practice won't significantly change. "I really think it's going to be an opportunity for me to expand because I'll have additional resources that I haven't had."

Branstetter says that he'd like to follow in his father's footsteps, practicing law well into his 80s should his health allow. The elder Branstetter died in May at age 93.

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